This invention relates generally to golf clubs, and more particularly to a sight level indicator which facilitates using a golf club as an upright reference.
Using the slender golf club handle and shaft as a viewable vertical reference is probably as old as the game of golf itself. In many instances the golfer finds himself/herself on a course or putting green which has an uneven and non-level turf or grade and quickly looses a sense of "which way is up". This is particularly critical during putting or chipping where the green is slightly askew from horizontal and perhaps rolling downwardly in both lateral directions along a sight line between the resting place of the golf ball and the cup.
However, when using a golf club alone, the user is never quite sure that he is holding the club in an upright position. This is due to the fact that finger pressure must be exerted at the upper end of the handle to support the golf club like a pendulum which may put some amount of rotational force into the club to counteract the force of gravity. Additionally, many golf club heads, particularly putting golf clubs, are not symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the golf club shaft, resulting in an offset center of gravity which induces some slight offset of the club shaft from true vertical even if perfectly supported at its upper end.
A number of prior art devices are known to applicant which provide some viewable means for improving the game of golf. The following group of issued U.S. patents are directed to devices which are attachable to the shaft of a golf club at or near the handle end of the club:
______________________________________ 2,204,974 R. Strasser 3,182,401 W. E. Stevens 3,242,582 C. L. Garrett 4,079,520 C. B. Davis 4,114,886 B. C. Koch 4,179,125 Cone, et al. 4,482,155 R. H. Higley ______________________________________
A second group of prior art devices, somewhat further removed from that of the present invention, is directed devices which are attachable and/or incorporated into the golf head itself as follows:
______________________________________ 3,306,618 J. L. Liljequist 3,429,576 Yoshiaki Ikeda 3,909,004 Vella 4,082,286 F. J. LaBreche 4,575,090 B. E. Heseltine 4,580,350 F. T. Fincher 4,824,114 G. G. Catalano ______________________________________
However, none of the above prior art devices accomplish the desired function of quickly orienting a golf club to a truly upright position for sighting to establish the direction of offset of the fairway or putting green grade. Many of the above devices perform entirely different functions that than of the present invention.